Author's Note: I thought I'd sit down and tell you who was what and who knows what, yes I know it is long. Be warned: there is a mid-chapter time skip.
The Story So Far: Hiruma is knowingly a half-Succubus. Mamori (a Mage), Kurita (Sensitive), Musashi (normal guy), are completely aware of Hiruma's heritage. Yukimitsu (Sensitive) is aware that Hiruma is not entirely human, but he doesn't know what the other part of him is. Yukimitsu is aware that Hiruma's dog, Cerberus, is a familiar. Yukimitsu has also recently made the acquaintance of a boy named Zork (?). Sena is also a Sensitive, only Mamori, Yukimitsu, and Raimon (normal guy) are aware of this, while Sena is unaware of Hiruma being anything less than completely human. Raimon, the three Huh Brothers (normal guys), Komusubi (normal guy), Sena, Yukimitsu, and Cerberus are plotting to protect Hiruma from Hunters separately from Mamori, Musashi, Kurita, and Hiruma's efforts. Of the entire Devil Bat line up, only Suzuna (normal girl), Taki (normal guy), and the helpers are oblivious to everything that is happening. Shin (Sensitive) is also aware of Hiruma's heritage and is working independently of everyone else to help Hiruma whenever he can.
Hidden
By: Bar-Ohki
Chapter 18: Revealed Under the Moon
During the remaining days until their game against the White Knights, the Devil Bats team noticed a change in their captain. Even Taki, the infamous idiot, realized that something was not the same with Hiruma. The devilish captain had pretty severe bags under his eyes and he skin gave that wrong coloring that only happened when one was not eating right. Musashi and Mamori had figured out the cause of the change, though neither voiced it.
The cause of Hiruma's change was his reaction to being consciously aware of his magic-eating habits. Though Hiruma had accepted that he wasn't human, he was still repulsed by the idea which brought him to the decision of not eating any magic at all. Unfortunately, magic was an important nutrient in Hiruma's diet and living without it was literally killing him. All of the 'what have I done' thoughts that plagued Hiruma's mind kept him from sleeping. To run away from the pangs in his magic-desiring stomach and to run from his own thoughts, Hiruma threw himself into football and school work, often becoming frenzied when neither was cooperating perfectly.
With the game a day away, Mamori decided she was going to do something about Hiruma, knowing how much this would hurt. It was the end of evening practice and everyone else had gone home, Mamori set Hiruma's coffee at his side. Hiruma was typing up a furry on his laptop, he was completely unaware of the world around him.
The devilish quarterback just about leaped out of his skin when Mamori set her hands on his shoulders.
"You're really tense." Mamori commented as she began to message Hiruma's shoulders. "And you haven't been taking care of yourself."
"That's not any of your business, fucking manager!" Hiruma hissed as he jerked away from her hands. Mamori simply rolled her eyes and set her hands on his shoulders again and continued her message. Angry, Hiruma tired to squirm away, but to no avail.
"…What would happen if your body failed during the next match?" Mamori's sudden question caused Hiruma to stop moving. "What would happen if you passed out from hunger?"
Hiruma said nothing as he gazed blankly at his laptop. His imagination was already well aware of the consequences of his actions. Deimon would lose both the match and the chance to go to the Chirstmas Bowl and he would probably do some serious damage to Mamori eating her magic.
"Your life isn't just yours anymore, Hiruma." Mamori pointed out to him. "Your life belongs to your teammates too, they haven't said anything, but they are worried about you."
"It doesn't matter what you've done," Mamori went on, surprising Hiruma with her words, "it can't be changed. All we could hope for is to prevent it from happening again."
"…Do you have any idea how hard it is?" Hiruma asked her after a moment, his voice tense.
"No." Mamori was honest. "But I do know that having special powers carries a responsibility no matter how old you are…. I learned that the hard way."
Hiruma said nothing and chose not to ask about it.
"Fucking manager, if you're going to give me a fucking message, do it right." Hiruma growled when she pushed a little too hard at the base of his neck.
"Only if you eat something." Mamori demanded, her eyes narrowing in challenge.
Hiruma took a deep breath and began to carefully suck in the tasty smell of her magic. Mamori felt a tug on her magic then felt it slowly, gently drain. She smiled and continued to work on Hiruma's shoulders feeling him slowly relax. An unexpected yawn caught her off guard showing her how tired she was. The magical pull stopped.
"…Hiruma?" Mamori asked, her voice full of confusion. A small snore told her all she needed to know. She smiled and proceeded to arrange the sleeping quarterback so that he wouldn't be stiff and sore the next morning. After she was finished she covered him with one of the spare blankets they used for injured athletes.
'There's one last thing that needs doing.' Mamori began to carefully put up wards around the clubhouse. She started with simple wards that made the building hard to concentrate on, then moved up to the complex ones that kept people with ill-will out. After another thought she wrote out a note instructing Hiruma to eat her wards when he woke up, this was mainly because it would be very hard for any of the normal players to get into the clubhouse if he didn't.
Mamori made one last run over the clubhouse, everything was in order and clean. She left the building, making a point to keep her hand on the door until she had finished locking it. The moment her hand let go Mamori felt her spells working in full power, her mind already unable to think about the clubhouse for any length of time. She smiled, satisfied with a job well done and went home.
From underneath a nearby bush, Cerberus was crouched on his belly observing. Not unlike his owner, Cerberus could smell magic and saw Mamori's clever plan. The girl had not only put up wards to protect Hiruma from Hunters in his sleep, but she also made it impossible for him to go without eating some magic the next day. The dog-familiar let out a small growl of approval after Mamori was out of ear shot.
Emerging from the bushes, Cerberus made a circuit around the clubhouse to check the sureness of Mamori's wards. A small thump behind the dog told him he was not alone. One sniff of the air told him who his companion was. Cerberus visibly relaxed and went about his business, ignoring the quiet footsteps behind him.
"Grandpa?" A young boy's voice asked after a while. "When can I play?"
Cerberus stopped and sat down, looking out at the rising moon. The boy's eyes followed the dog's gaze, meeting the full moon.
"…Not for a while, huh?" The boy muttered staring at the full moon in awe.
-the next morning-
Hiruma woke up with a yawn. His night had been dreamless and restful; for the first time in days Hiruma felt completely relaxed and rested. With a few breaths he was aware that the entire building was radiating Mamori's magic.
'Why the fuck is it doing that?' Hiruma sat up, the spare blanket falling off him. He looked at the blanket once and realized that Mamori had moved him after he fell asleep.
"Tch." Hiruma muttered and took a glance around the room. Nothing was out of order beyond a single paper on the table. With a few more stretches, Hiruma got off the couch and picked up the paper. The contents of the message were crystal clear: eat the wards off so practice can start.
"Tch!" Hiruma hissed, upset that he had fallen perfectly into her trap. The logical part of his mind reminded him that not eating the magic now would just about kill him during the match. Hiruma shut his eyes and quickly ate all of the wards off the building, feeling full and energized afterwards.
'I can't avoid eating.' Hiruma sighed, resigning himself to the fact he'd have to continue to eat magic if he wanted to survive. Hiruma grabbed a few things and unlocked the clubhouse. He checked the time on his watch, there was plenty of time to head home, shower, and change clothes before he had to get back and unlock the clubhouse for the rest of the team.
'Almost time for the Devil to challenge the King, huh?' Hiruma smirked under his mask. For the first time since he found out the truth about who he was, he felt at peace. So what if he was a half-human, half-Succubus that ate magic to survive? More importantly, he was the quarterback of the Deimon Devil Bats and he had a game to win today. With a small spring in his step, Hiruma left the school grounds to prepare for one of the toughest football games he'd play this season.
Cerberus loyally followed his master.
-after the game-
To say the Devil Bats team was relieved that Hiruma was back to normal was an understatement. Even though most people would not enjoy getting tossed out of the back of a giant truck, the team cried tears of joy when they went flying into the massive puddles of water. Even Mamori found herself laughing at Hiruma's antics. Of course the truck had to be stopped so that the players could climb back in and get a ride home. It took a little longer than usual to do this because the Huh Brothers had to fish Yukimitsu out of a puddle (the poor guy was too exhausted to stand back up after his last play) and because Taki and Musashi had to help a basically dead-weight Monta up into the back of the truck again.
"Maybe we should get them out of their uniforms?" Sena suggested as the entire team stood over the two passed out receivers.
"Not me!" The Huh Brothers announced at the same time.
Without prompting from anyone Musashi stood up and began undoing the knots on Yukimitsu's cleats. Sena smiled and went about getting Monta's cleats off. Taki removed both players' gloves and the Huh Brothers looked at each other sheepishly then started to pull off the jerseys with Komusubi.
"What the hell is this?" Musashi muttered while he held the knot in his hands. Yukimitsu had chosen to use some kind of strange and extreme knotting strategy on his shoes that prevented normal people from being able to untie them.
"Your eyes must be failing in your old age, you old man." Hiruma chuckled at Musashi as he walked over to get a better look at Yukimitsu's shoes. Upon a close inspection Hiruma stared at the knots, stunned.
"You wanna try?" Musashi offered Hiruma a be-cleated foot.
"Fucking manager!" Hiruma caught Mamori's attention and pointed at the offending knot. Mamori rolled her eyes and took a close look at it. It would have been impossible for her to untie the knot under her own power, but with a little magic, the knot fell apart in her hands.
"You boys just don't know how to deal with clothes." Mamori shook her head and untied Yukimitsu's other cleat without difficulty. Hiruma rolled his eyes at her and helped pull Yukimitsu's pants off.
Within a few more minutes Yukimitsu and Monta had been stripped, toweled off, and changed into some dry clothes. Mamori had already had a tub of water ready to put the uniforms in. The other members of the team quickly changed into warm clothes, feeling better.
"How are we going to get him home?" Juumonji couldn't help but to ask, looking at Yukimitsu. The entire team knew that Yukimitsu's mother was unaware of his status as a player and often helped him keep up the charade that he was apart of a study group. Explaining an exhausted son to his mother was going to prove difficult.
"When badly wakes up, he calls his mama and tells her that he's staying the night over because it got so fucking late." Hiruma answered.
"Oh, he can stay at my place." Kurita offered without thinking, living at a temple meant he had a lot of room to spare.
"Ah." Juumonji nodded, content with the solution to the avoided conflict.
"We're here!" Doburoku called from the cab after the truck stopped. Ishimaru and Sena opened up the doors of the truck only to be assaulted by bats.
"Gah!" The runners cried as the animals swarmed about all of them clearly upset and worked up by something.
"The fuck!?" Hiruma hissed as he shielded his face from the bats with his arms. Soon it wasn't just bats, squirrels, cats, night birds, and other little creatures were swarming the inside of the truck, screaming all the while.
If Yukimitsu had been awake, he would have cried out a warning to Mamori to shield the truck. If Kurita hadn't been tired, he would have sensed the Mages in the vicinity. And if Mamori wasn't still suffering from over-exerting herself magically the day before, she might have been able to salvage the situation before it was too late.
A mass of Hunters stood just before the truck, using subtitle magics to keep the animals in a frenzy. During the resulting chaos, they cast magic on Hiruma's clothes, pulling him out of the truck and onto the ground before them.
Hiruma lifted his head to take in about 40 Hunters. He tried to think of a way out of this predicament when a sharp pain came from the back of his neck and his world went black.
When Hiruma's body fell to the ground, limp, there was a small cheer from the Hunters. Finally, in the name of the Elders of Northern Europe, they had captured the half-Succubus. They quickly bound him up and carried him away. Once they reached the football field the lot of them prepared a spell and with a loud crack and a flash, they were gone.
And no one on the Devil Bats knew it yet.
_=_=_=_=_
Hiruma comes to terms with his existence only to get captured! What do you think?